6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (26 January - Results & Review)

There’s undeniably something happening here.

Even with all of its flaws, WWE Raw has made strides during this month, producing solid main events and several entertaining segments throughout the program, while the bulk of the negatives have been relatively minor.

Monday night was another continuation of that pattern, as Raw told two parallel show-long stories that intersected in the main event and left you wondering if and how things would intertwine again.

Along the way, WWE remembered that it had a tag team division; an error of omission in and of itself, but also an opportunity to build upon. All the women who hold gold on Raw banded together to vanquish the Judgment Day, but even in defeat, one of their ranks emerged with a title match that actually feels earned despite some stumbles early on.

Raw itself stumbled a bit in a couple of places, but they could be one-week narrative building blocks that don’t make a ton of sense until the next pieces reveal themselves. Just because something gets a negative vote this week doesn’t mean it can’t do a 180 in seven days’ time.

DOWNS…

4. Not Sold On Nattie

"Natalya elevates, but Nattie DECIMATES" ?@NatbyNature is DONE playing nice and is coming for @maxxinedupri! pic.twitter.com/Y71hjHZQRM— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2026

Full disclosure: having never seen anything beyond a handful of clips of her work in GCW and AAA as Nattie, there really is just initial impressions and WWE’s history to rely on for critiquing Monday’s vignette. And just because Natalya’s character shift is being initially panned doesn’t mean that this is a final verdict.

“Nattie” made her debut on Raw via a video promo where she talked about Maxxine Dupri failing her (despite Natalya turning on her at the moment that Dupri had knocked Becky Lynch out and was on the cusp of regaining the Women’s Intercontinental Championship). Nattie said that just because Maxxine could roll with the legends didn’t mean she could roll like a legend. (Umm, sure.)

Nattie then informed everyone that this was “a whole new me” and pledged she was “coming for it all” after she dispatches with Maxxine. Because Natalya elevates, but Nattie decimates.

Hey, this could work, and her Lowkey Legend character could totally work in WWE, but everyone has seen nearly two decades of the company booking Natalya horribly and botching numerous pushes. This is the company that gave Nattie a farting gimmick, for God’s sake.

Maybe two years ago, there would have been a bit more faith in WWE to book the Lowkey Legend properly, but until today’s WWE actually strings together a period of solid booking for her, the jury is going to be out and skeptical.

3. Pearce Neutered

After a fun couple of weeks where Adam Pearce just lived in the world of an exasperated middle manager, finally lashing out at his problem employees, the Raw GM showed up Monday night, unconvincingly cowed, and gave in to The Vision’s demands.

Pearce came out and succinctly apologized to Bron Breakker, reinstated him, and put him into the Royal Rumble, then put the rest of the group into the match as well. The GM then booked Austin Theory against Rey Mysterio as a “make good” for last week’s fiasco with the brass knuckles. Corey Graves tried to sell this as a huge negative – putting an entire stable in a match so they can gang up on everyone is bad? – while a perfectly average match played out in the ring.

This gave way to The Vision conducting a beatdown of the luchadores while Pearce, other officials, and security were nowhere to be found. Apparently, Pearce was supposedly so silenced by contact from a higher-up that he bowed out of doing his job, despite barely registering the forced apology as anything more than an inconvenience.

2. The Entire Tag Division Fits On A Milk Carton

Monday’s four-way tag match to name a new top contender for the World Tag Team Championship will get some praise in a bit, but first, we have to bury it.

The match featured the New Day (still mourning the “death of the tag division” from when they lost the titles… seven months ago), the Creed Brothers (in their first televised match in six months), Alpha Academy (in their first televised tag match in 14(!) months), and Los Americanos (in their second televised tag match since “debuting” as a unit in September).

Unsurprisingly, this match played out to silence for the first several minutes, as there literally was no one involved in it who elicited any reaction from the fans. They only started to come to life when Julius and Brutus Creed started flying around and reminding everyone that they were top prospects once upon a time, and then they ramped up when Otis and Akira Tozawa started playing the hits.

This match should serve as an indictment of the piss-poor booking of the Raw tag division that you have four teams that have collectively wrestled two TV matches in the past four months (both New Day) and were colder than most of North America heading into Monday night.

Some will point to Alpha Academy pulling a strong reaction out of the fans and some good ring work as a reason for praise, but doing so ignores the long pattern of ignorance and negligence. Additionally, no one can honestly say they expect this match to be the catalyst for WWE to start booking the Raw tag division better.

1. It’s All About The Game(’s Ego)

It’s time to play the game. #WWE2K26 @TripleH pic.twitter.com/KzIn02PDKu— #WWE2K26 (@WWEgames) January 26, 2026

Just when you thought that Paul Levesque couldn’t be any more front-and-center in the vast array of WWE programming, he upped the ante Monday night.

Michael Cole threw to a promo video for the latest special version of WWE 2K26, which starred Paul Heyman pitching Levesque a ton of different editions featuring members of The Vision. Then they got the lobby of WWE headquarters to reveal – and this is not an exaggeration – a two-story-tall digital picture of the video game cover, none other than Triple H himself.

Whereas the first two deluxe editions highlighted the Attitude Era and the Monday Night War, the third special version of the game featured not D-Generation X, but just Triple H. This was apparently to celebrate his 30 years in the business, despite retiring four years earlier and debuting in WWE 31 years ago.

If you’re keeping score, yes, of course, Hunter appears on the cover of both the Attitude Era (wearing the “Big Gold Belt” that didn’t debut in WWE until after the Attitude Era had ended) and the Monday Night War editions, meaning he is a central figure across all three special versions of the video game.

What a guy. Thank God he’s finally getting the recognition he so desperately craves… er, deserves.

UPS…

6. Alpha Academy Rises From The Ashes

If for one night only, tag team wrestling on Raw got a shot in the arm with the four-way tag match for a World Tag Team Championship shot.

The Creed Brothers, who haven’t wrestled on Raw in six months, put together a short blitz that immediately reminded everyone why they were so highly touted when they first came up to the main roster more than two years ago. It was a bit heartwarming (and sad) to see them get fired up and yell about letting everyone know who they were.

But the real stars of the show had to be Alpha Academy, who have been backstage fixtures on Raw but haven’t found their way to the ring together since late 2024. The duo burned through their repertoires in the closing moments, with Akira Tozawa’s blitz of offense and Otis’ meathead clobbering popping fans something fierce. Throw in Tozawa’s sky-high senton for the win, and you had a fun experience – even if the outcome against the Usos seems all too obvious.

It would be nice if the men’s tag division would get a similar shot in the arm to what the women’s tag scene has received in recent months, but that just doesn’t seem likely. Still, let’s make sure to compliment them for what they delivered here.

5. Judgment Day Tumble To The Champs

Following on the heels of Saturday Night’s Main Event, the Judgment Day still had a target on their collective backs Monday night, and Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, and a returning-to-action Stephanie Vaquer took aim at them.

The all-champs team was on their heels throughout the match, with the Judgment Day springing traps on them on the outside. Raquel Rodriguez had another solid night as a towering, imposing figure, despite the team's loss.

At this stage in their run, the Judgment Day exists for the accumulation of titles, the only true measurable marker of success. And yet, the group continues to fall short at every turn, with Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez each getting pinned in a 48-hour span, while Raquel stepped to Vaquer (more on that in a second). The tag titles simultaneously feel like they’re just out of Liv and Roxanne’s reach and still miles away. How will they bridge the divide and achieve their goal?

Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s weeks of attacks finally led to her getting in the ring across from Stephanie, only for her teammates to once again eat a pinfall. Her response was to stalk backstage searching for the women’s world champ, but it was Vaquer who sprung the trap and attacked. Both demanded a match against the other, with Raw GM Adam Pearce finally granting them a street fight next week.

4. Gunther IDs Next Old-Timer Target?

"Now I have a lot of things to gain" ?@Gunther_AUT is looking to end another career on Saturday at the Royal Rumble. pic.twitter.com/jefFKlocJt— WWE (@WWE) January 27, 2026

Gunther hasn’t wrestled much in the past couple of months, but he has reinvented and surrounded himself with a completely new aura since becoming the “career killer.”

The Ring General sat down with Michael Cole Monday night and talked about his upcoming match against AJ Styles, insisting that he wanted the Phenomenal One’s career on the line because there was nothing else in a rematch for him, but gaining the satisfaction of ending his career would be a big enough enticement.

When Cole asked about robbing fans of a year-long Styles retirement tour, Gunther bristled, saying he was “sick and tired of these old-timers overstaying their welcome, chasing one more moment after another.” All of those moments belong to him, and the sooner these older wrestlers like Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ get out of the way, the better.

That’s when Gunther turned his attention to Cole, noting that he also qualified as an old-timer still hanging on, chasing glory. He mused about knocking him out of his chair, ending his broadcasting career (don’t threaten us with a good time!), but he wanted Cole on the call Saturday, announcing the end of Styles’ career.

Unlike Randy Orton’s Legend Killer gimmick, where he would just RKO every Hall of Famer and legend, Gunther has become WWE’s Final Boss for older wrestlers, threatening to put them out to pasture – and succeeding. You believe that he’s seriously trying to clear out the ranks of the roster of the former greats to make way for… himself.

3. Punk, Styles Violate The Impromptu Rule

Despite the often-stated universal rule against show-opening promos leading to an impromptu match, there always are exceptions, and Monday’s opening segment of Raw provided a great example.

AJ Styles opened the show talking about his impending retirement, and how he still has a lot of moments to create before he hangs up the boots for good. Cue CM Punk, who immediately questioned AJ’s decision to fight Gunther with his career on the line. The World Heavyweight Champion lamented how Saturday could mark the end of Styles’ career and the two could end up never facing each other in WWE.

At this point, fans were already hip to the room and started chanting “fight tonight!” Punk didn’t help matters as he looked sheepishly toward the crowd, almost begging them to get louder in pushing for this late addition to the card.

Styles also leaned into this “aww shucks” moment as they talked about hooking it up, which finally prompted Punk to put his world title on the line, sending the fans into a frenzy.

As mentioned in the Saturday Night’s Main Event Ups & Downs, it’s almost as though Styles’ retirement provides a cheat code for WWE to do certain things and get a free pass. The impromptu main event worked here because of course, when else would Punk and Styles wrestle?

2. A Step Down, But Another Grizzled Main Event

January seemingly has marked a turned corner for Raw, and WWE really has the two men in Monday’s main event to thank for that.

On the heels of John Cena’s retirement, WWE felt deflated, and their one-year Netflix anniversary show was a big letdown. But the past two episodes – despite having several missteps – had plenty of positives, most notably, two stellar main events involving AJ Styles and CM Punk.

Monday night, Punk and Styles hooked up for the first time in a WWE ring, just days before what could be the end of AJ’s WWE career. Their match was a step down from the past couple of weeks and a bit stumbly, but both men still delivered a pretty entertaining main event for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Punk broke out a Shining Wizard early, only for AJ to catch a second attempt later and try to turn it into a Styles Clash. AJ blocked a Go-to-Sleep with an ushi-goroshi. Both men kept going for their submission finishers and countering each other’s attempts, right up until Finn Balor’s interference for the disqualification.

Styles and Punk did enough here to make fans want a rematch – should AJ survive Saturday - but if this is their only WWE singles match, they also did enough to serve as a decent exhibition.

For Punk, this is another performance where he has leaned into being an older, slower, more gassed version of himself, and he’s made it work. He seems very aware of his wrestling mortality – and of the other wrestlers from his generation (Punk referenced that directly to Balor earlier in the night) – and is grappling with it every time he heads to the ring. It adds an extra layer to his performances, with exhaustion being a feature, not a bug.

1. Balor’s Journey

Last week, Finn Balor’s World Heavyweight Championship match felt like a delightful, perfect one-off contest. He was a couple of hours up the road from his hometown, so he was rewarded with a world title main event, and he and CM Punk delivered a great match.

Monday, they followed up on that match throughout the course of Raw. Balor caught up to Punk backstage and offered his respect back to the world champion, repaying him for the respect Punk showed Finn after their match. Punk responded by praising Balor – and then telling him to ditch the Judgment Day if he was serious about being a champion again.

Then, when Finn approached Raw GM Adam Pearce about entering the Royal Rumble, he learned that he was too late and all the slots were filled, leaving him on the outside just as he was finding his motivation. Cue master manipulator Liv Morgan, who reminded Balor that the Judgment Day is his family, not CM Punk.

Fast-forward to the main event, when Balor jumped Punk to cause a disqualification and laid in a solid beating, including three Coup de Graces.

Like AJ Styles and CM Punk, Finn Balor has got to be feeling the creep of the years and realizing that there are fewer wrestling days in front of him than behind. Losing a world title match and then missing out on the Rumble chafes, and then being told that the stable he’s coveted leading is holding him down had to mess with his head. Then Liv stirred the pot.

Balor didn’t seem horribly conflicted in his impulsive decision to attack Punk Monday night, but that respect he exchanged certainly felt real and could resurface, say, during a Judgment Day beatdown or interference in a rematch. As Finn himself said to Liv, things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem.

It’s been difficult for the past year or so to trust WWE to follow through on booking a character effectively, but they definitely put some serious thought into Finn Balor’s journey Monday night, so it’s worth giving them the benefit of the doubt here.